Encyclopedia > Counterclockwise

  Article Content

Counterclockwise

Counterclockwise adverb and adjective meaning the opposite of clockwise. That is, counterclockwise is a rotation to the left and up, a direction opposite the rotation to the right and down of a typical wall clock's hands. Counterclockwise is also sometimes called widdershins.

Typically, screws and bolts are loosened counterclockwise and tightened clockwise. One mnemonic for remembering this is "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey" (right to tighten, left to loosen.)

Occasionally, clocks whose hands revolve counterclockwise are sold as a novelty.

In trigonometry, an angle in standard position is measured counterclockwise from the x-axis.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
East Farmingdale, New York

... older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 102.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 100.6 males. The median income for a ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 21.7 ms